Introducing Next Step

If you haven’t already heard of Next Step, then prepare to be inspired. The organization, which was founded with help from the late actor Paul Newman, offers education and support programs to teens and young adults aged 16 to 30 living with cancer, HIV and other life-threatening diseases.

Next Step is currently building a state-of-the-art music recording studio in Central Square to help participants record and perform their own songs as a way to manage their illnesses. The studio is set to open in March.

“For the young survivor, writing and recording their own music allows them to see themselves as separate from their disease so they can see their possibilities, hopes and dreams,” said Bill Kubicek, Next Step’s founder and executive director in a February press release.